The Third Banoran
by Yoruko Rhapsodos
Summary: Nothing goes as expected at Modeioheim when Kagome, Angeal's sister, shows up. As a result, the future changes. Will the rewritten fantasy mean Zack and friends get a happy ending?
1. Chapter 1

Genesis: Why did you take this story off of your old profile and post in on this one?

Yoruko: I felt like it was the only way it would get finished.

Genesis: I see.

Warnings: slight AU, violence, fem!Cloud, & possibly some cursing.

Disclaimer: Yoruko Rhapsodos doesn't own FFVII or Inuyasha.

**Chapter One:**

**Meet Kagome Hewley**

Zack Fair at the moment, was on a helicopter- headed to Modeioheim for his next mission. He'd gotten a message from Angeal, his friend and mentor. Zack hoped that he would be able to talk to Angeal. He had promised to bring Angeal back to Shinra, but he wasn't so sure that he wanted to stay in Shinra himself. After what he had learned about the doings of the scientists and what his friends had went through, he had doubts. Besides, Zack was positive that he was missing a piece of the puzzle. Something just didn't fit- and he didn't know what. Just then, the helicopter lurched, bringing Zack out of his musings. The helicopter went down.

**A short time later at the crash site**

"Is everyone alright?" Zack asked.

"One grunt almost didn't make it, but otherwise we are all just fine." said Tseng, who was a Turk with whom Zack was friends of sorts.

"Well, that's good." said Zack.

"Indeed. Now, you had better lead the way from here. You come from the country, so you ought to know how to handle terrain like this better." Tseng replied.

**Sometime later in the mountains**

They had been walking for a while. By now all of Zack's companions had lagged behind. That is, all except for one of them. To be exact, it was one of the third class SOLDIERs. Zack didn't think he knew who it was, but who could tell with that uniform and helmet? Zack turned to his companion.

"At least someone's keeping up." Zack said.

"Well, I'm from the country too." said the grunt.

"Really?" said Zack, "Where are you from?"

"Nibelheim." he said, which got Zack laughing, "What? You think it's funny?"

"Sorry," said Zack, "it's just that Nibelheim is such a backwater name."

"Really," said the grunt, "where are you from then?"

"Gongaga." Zack answered, making it the grunt's turn to laugh. "What? You know Gongaga?"

"It's just such a backwater name." the grunt said. "Doesn't Gongaga have a mako reactor? You know what the say. When there's a mako reactor-"

"Nothing else it there." they both said in unison; they looked at each other then laughed again.

"Hey Tseng!" Zack shouted, "Good news. My friend-"

The grunt took off their helmet, revealing herself to be a girl, not a boy. "Cloud. Cloud Strife."

"My friend Cloud here is a backwater expert too." Tseng simply waved in reply.

**Some time later at the excavation site**

On the way to Modeioheim, the group came across an excavation site. Tseng had Zack go investigate it. Cloud followed eventually, naturally. It wasn't long before Zack got inside. Zack made his way through gradually. Progress was slower than it should have been because sometimes he came across someone trying to stop him, leading to a fight.. Eventually, Zack got to the lowest point one could get. There he found ex-first class SOLDIER Genesis Rhapsodos menacing the scientist Hollander. At that point Zack stepped in, and then Cloud arrived. Hollander attempted to escape, however, and Cloud followed him. Then, things heated up when Zack and Genesis fought- an event that was, perhaps, a long time in coming. Unfortunately, even though Zack wasn't sure that he wanted to fight Genesis, he had little choice in the matter. Then, when the fight appeared to be over, Genesis started making his way over towards the edge. Zack wasn't stupid, even if he didn't use his head as often as he should. He knew that Genesis was probably preparing to jump. Right at that moment, however, a woman with black hair appeared.

"Genesis!" she said in a commanding tone of voice, "Stop."

"I…" Genesis started to say something, but either the words never made it to his lips or else he thought better of it.

Zack was almost surprised. Genesis had just seemed angry and bitter before. Because of Hollander and Shinra one of the words in a list of words to describe Genesis is the word 'jaded'. After the events since Angeal left, Zack knew that very well. Almost as much as he knew Sephiroth, Angeal, and Genesis himself did. But something else entered the eyes of the man who was nearly as calm as the two men that he called his best friends yet more susceptible to his emotions at even the mere sight of this woman- sorrow and- something else. Something that Zack had a feeling what it was yet dared not voice his suspicions even in his own mind. But what surprised Zack the most was how the red head's eyes softened at the woman's next words in such a way that Zack's suspicions about Genesis' feelings towards her were just about confirmed. And Zack knew that Genesis had almost forgotten that Zack was there. Zack wasn't sure if the woman hadn't noticed him or was ignoring him.

"Please." she said, "For me. It- it doesn't have to be this way. It isn't too late. I promise."

'Well, at least she seems to return his feelings.' thought Zack, 'Maybe they can find some much deserved happiness together.'

"... Kagome..." It was clear Genesis wanted to do as asked.

"You and I both know that if you start listening to Hollander for once in your life, it will only be counterproductive!" she reminded the redhead adamantly.

"Alright. But only for you." Genesis answered. The girl took out a curaga materia and started healing him. The she looked towards Zack.

'So they haven't forgotten about me.' he thought.

"We'll catch up later. Just don't tell Tseng about me." she said.

"Sure." said Zack.

After that the spiky haired youth left. He had a new friend and a mad scientist to find after all. As he left, he had a feeling that things would start changing with that woman in the picture. Little did he know that not only was he absolutely correct, but that it may even be an understatement.

**Owari**


	2. Chapter 2

Angeal: Yoruko, I thought you were going to wait to post these stories on this profile?

Yoruko: It's part of a bribe to get a favorite author of mine to update~

Zack: Really? Which one?

Yoruko: Whispering Kage, her writing's good to the extent where I even sometimes read stuff involving series I don't know.

Zack: *laughs* That's cool.

Sephiroth: Yoruko, that makes no sense. Wouldn't you be confused?

Genesis: Sephiroth, my friend, it's called imagination.

Yoruko: When it bugs me enough, I look up the series to see if I want to read or watch it.

Zack: What if it's a video game?

Yoruko: Then I'm out of luck if I think I'd like it.

Disclaimer: Yoruko Rhapsodos doesn't own the things found in her fanfiction that readers recognize from elsewhere.

**Chapter Two**

**Modeioheim**

Zack, at the moment, was wondering what exactly was going on. Why send him to Modeioheim of all places? Why would Angeal be there? Not to mention Genesis and that girl. Not that he was worried about that. It doesn't matter, from the spiky haired first class SOLDIER's perspective. He knows now that things will work out in the end after all. Though Zack _did_ wonder why there were so many monsters. It was weird, and didn't make much sense, especially in a cold, abandoned-looking place like this. The area shouldn't have had enough mako for artificial ones, and even natural ones usually couldn't stand the cold. Not that it mattered. He'd do what he needed to. After all, if he didn't have conviction to hold up in times like this, he would never have made it in SOLDIER. Angeal may have called Zack a puppy, but even the younger male knew that much.

Finally, Zack made his way to the bath house. Unlike many of the other buildings, it was unlocked. Zack decided to go in to investigate. Eventually, he ran into- one of the big monsters. The ones that had Angeal's face. Zack mentally complained, as that always happened to him. He mentally cursed the timing. Why did weird or unlucky things always happen to him at the worst possible time? To his surprise, soon after defeating the monster he found...

"Tseng! Cloud! Are you both okay?" said Zack.

"I'm fine. I'll look after Cloud- you go on ahead. Angeal's waiting for you." Tseng said, waving off the obvious concern.

"Alright." Then Zack went on ahead.

**A little later**

Zack had finally found Angeal! But things were going wrong. Zack didn't want to fight Angeal… The man was like a second father or a big brother to him, after all. How could he, in his right mind, bring himself to willingly fight his mentor? Then Hollander came in, and started making things worse. Though, Zack was glad that apparently Angeal _hadn't_ killed his mother. The part about her being such an active part of the experiments was a surprise, though, unlike the news that hadn't done that to her.

"Angeal! Stop this!" a somewhat voice ordered.

'It's that girl…' thought Zack.

"Kagome," Angeal said, "What are you doing here?"

'Kagome? Then she's Angeal's sister.' Zack remembered all to well what he'd heard about Kagome Hewley, Angeal's older sister. She happened to be only a couple of months older than Genesis, and was about a year older than Angeal. Also, she was Tseng's predecessor as commander, and therefore true leader, of the Turks.

**Flashback**

"…_But I never once took fruit from that tree- because the man's son was my best friend." said Angeal._

"_So why didn't you just ask him for some? If he was your friend, I bet that he would have given you some." Zack said._

"_That didn't seem right to me either. Not that Kagome had to ask- he would offer to share with her of his own accord."_

"_Kagome?" Zack asked._

"_My sister." answered Angeal._

"_I didn't know that you have a sister, Angeal!" Zack exclaimed._

"_You never asked." replied Angeal. Zack just sweat dropped. Angeal did have a point- and how do you reply to something like that, anyway?_

"_Will I get to meet her?"_

"_Maybe sometime."_

**End Flashback**

**Another Flashback**

"_The four of us were best friends- Angeal, Genesis, and myself- the three SOLDIER first class in charge of the program- and Kagome, the leader of the Turks. Kagome is a very strong willed woman- she could have been a SOLDIER first class if she wanted. She often kept Hojo and Hollander away from us and was the one who insisted that the medics be trained to give out the dosages of mako instead, wore a black shirt instead of the Turks' standard white, and refused to zip up the jacket. Us three SOLDIERS often used to hang out in the training room when the second class were away- Kagome often joined us. One day, Hojo or Hollander seemed to have attempted to approach her- she'd been in a very bad mood. Three days later, the incident where Genesis just wouldn't heal for some strange reason and Hollander refused to allow me to be the donor occurred. A few days after that, Kagome disappeared. To this day, the higher-ups claim that a monster took her unawares while she was in the slums." Sephiroth said._

"_What about Genesis and Angeal?" asked Zack._

"_Genesis went a mission about a week after she left and never came back." replied Sephiroth._

**End Flashback**

'So… this is her.' thought Zack.

Now that he took time to notice, he noticed two things- one, she's very pretty, and two- even though they didn't look that much alike, you could tell that she's Angeal's sister. She had black hair and blue eyes-like Angeal. She wasn't wearing her Turk uniform. Instead, she was wearing a blue T-shirt, black jeans, and a black denim jacket, and black boots. As far as weapons go, she appeared to have a nodachi and two guns.

As Kagome took in the situation and the sights before her, she was… annoyed. She liked that her little brother finds honor important-really, she does. But from her perspective he seemed to think that just because he had a wing and could do a couple of slightly weird things that no one else can do, he was a monster. Genesis seemed to think that too. Really, guys were so _stupid_ sometimes! Why can't those two get it through their heads that they _**aren't **_monsters? Honestly, everyone should forget Genesis. Hollander was exceedingly lucky that _she_ hasn't killed him yet. For that matter, so was Hojo, more so perhaps. Especially considering Sephiroth's childhood and what she found out during her time free from Shinra's grasp.

'My blacklist it getting way too long. I need to see if I can call Rufus in on the favor that he owes me.' Kagome thought."Angeal… you know that you need to rethink things. It's obvious that Zack here has really missed you." She reprimanded her brother, "Did you even once stop to think about him and how your leaving- abandoning Shinra for seemingly no reason- would affect him? Or bother to remember the fact that if he knew the truth, he might prefer to join you than stay in Shinra?"

"Kagome…" Angeal seemed as if he'd been struck by lightening, or had been hit with a sudden revelation.

This was because to tell the truth, he hadn't. Zack's reactions each and every time he'd seen him since leaving had surprised Angeal. The man had thought Zack wouldn't truly care. Or, that he would change his opinion once he knew that his mentor was a monster. He admitted as much to his highly perceptive (sometimes annoyingly so) older sister. Looking back, what she'd said made a lot of sense.

Zack was shocked. No one he knew that knew of the situation and his part in it- in or out of Shinra- had seemed to care about how he felt. Or in some cases, had been so caught up in the situation that they never once stopped to think about it. But to be honest... the ex Turk was right. Zack's first instinct when he'd learned that Angeal had left was that there must be more to the situation that meets the eye. When he'd learned that Genesis Rhapsodos, a first class who had previously abandoned Shinra, was also from Banora and had been Angeal's best friend... he'd been briefly jealous. Did he really mean that much to Angeal, that the darker haired man left Shinra and abandoned Zack? Then he'd seen the two together. Zack hadn't known what to think anymore. He just wanted to know if he really meant so little to Angeal. Why hadn't he asked Zack to come with him? He'd been so happy when Angeal seemed to be reinstating good terms with him. There had been times when Zack felt all alone without Angeal, who he'd come to look up to and care about like he was family. And… why would he see Angeal as a monster? A wing and a weird trick no one else seems to be capable of aren't reasons to be considered a monster.

Kagome sighed. "Come here, Angeal. I'll heal you. Then I'll get you out of here."

"Alright, Kagome." Angeal, as Kagome requested, went over to her and allowed her to heal him. To his surprise, he felt better than he'd felt in a long time; that could only mean… "Kagome? Did you finally manage it?"

"Uh huh. I found someone who taught me to control them." she looked toward Zack, "Well? What do you think?"

"What do I think?" Zack asked, "I think Angeal must not know me as well as I thought. Or that he never really payed any attention to me. He should have eventually asked me if I wanted to come too once I knew the story."

Hearing this, Kagome shot Angeal a look that clearly said 'I told you so.'

"Zack," said Kagome, "Can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure." he answered.

"Can you tell Sephiroth everything? I have a feeling that he'll want to join us, too. When the time comes, I'll find you. And… please give him this for me." Kagome asked. She handed him an envelope.

"Alright." Zack said.

Zack had been planning on talking to Sephiroth about the both of them joining Genesis and Angeal anyway. He didn't think he wanted to keep working for Shinra or let Sephiroth be stuck with them either for much longer. On the bright side, things were finally looking up again. Little did anyone know, that Angeal having a sibling at all, and that sibling be the sort of person Kagome was, changed everything. Because if Angeal had been an only child and Kagome nonexistent, nearly all of those who either were deeply involved or knew the entire story would have an entirely different future. Hojo, Hollander, and the president of the Shinra Corporation would soon rue the day Veld, the former director of the Turks, and Kagome's predecessor approved one Kagome Hewely's application for training as a Turk.

**Owari**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Yoruko Rhapsodos doesn't own Final Fantasy VII, Inuyasha, or anything recognized in this fanfiction.

**Chapter Three **

**Secrets Revealed**

It had been a few days since the incident at Modeioheim. Zack was, at the moment, back in Midgar. Though if he had anything to say about it, he wouldn't be back for very long. He had long since realized that Shinra wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. The enthusiastic young man had suspected something was wrong ever since Angeal first left. Why else would someone like Angeal leave? Zack was getting off of topic, though. Right now he needed to find Sephiroth. He had the perfect excuse, too. Sephiroth had informed him that he was to report to him personally to inform about the mission. He had a feeling that Sephiroth somehow knew that Genesis had been in the area. Finally, Zack spotted him.

"Hey! Seph!" Zack shouted to get his attention.

"Zack." Sephiroth acknowledged; "How was the mission?"

"Interesting. Not at all what I expected." Zack said.

"…Is that so?" Sephiroth said, "Follow me. Once we're in a more… private venue you can tell me all about it."

Sephiroth led Zack to his office. Or lair, as the latter liked to jokingly call it. Though, that was only when Zack was accusing the silver haired man of being grumpy. Once there, the general of SOLDIER informed his secretary that he was not to be disturbed by any means for any reason. Then they entered the office and Sephiroth closed and locked the door. Luckily, since he hated being disturbed that wasn't anything unusual.

"I take it you ran into both of them?" Sephiroth stated.

"Make that three." Zack said.

"Then Kagome was there?" Sephiroth asked.

"She talked sense into both of them. And… did something to heal them of the degeneration. Or rather, once she met back up with Genesis she healed him. She told me to give you this, by the way." Zack said, handing Sephiroth the envelope as he said the last part.

Sephiroth looked it over. He had to hide a slight frown. If Zack hadn't been as close to Sephiroth as he was, he didn't think that he would have noticed. Then again, Angeal had once said that one of the qualities that made Zack a good SOLDIER was his ability to notice people and things about them. Even the small and usually seemingly insignificant things. Plus, he'd been able to read Tseng to an extent since they met, and he was somewhat similar to Sephiroth. Sephiroth looked back up at Zack.

"Well, this settles it." Sephiroth said.

"Settles what?" Zack asked.

"I'm going to abandon Shinra." Sephiroth said.

Neither was worried about being heard, the walls and door were sound proof and Sephiroth regularly checked his office for cameras and bugs and removed any he found. Zack didn't, as he normally would, call him paranoid. When you had a guy like Hojo hounding after you like the taller and older man did, you had good reason to be paranoid. Zack himself had been a little paranoid about the man himself ever since the first unfortunate case of meeting him.

"So that makes all five of us, then." Zack said, "Maybe six."

"Five?" Sephiroth asked, confused.

"You didn't really expect me to stay here after learning about what Shinra was really like, did you?" Zack said.

"I suppose not. The sixth?" Sephiroth replied.

"A soon-to-be third class." Zack explained, "Her name is Cloud, and she'd already been realizing that Shinra isn't all it's cracked up to be even before the mission. After the mission and talking with me, she's been pretty annoyed by things."

"A girl in SOLDIER?" Sephiroth asked, surprised.

"Yeah. She came to Midgar all the way from Nibelheim just to join SOLDIER." Zack said, "And she's got a lot of potential, too. So I've started training with her."

"You're going to ask her if she wants to come along when the time comes to leave?" Sephiroth asked.

"Of course. Cloudy's my friend, and as unhappy with Shinra as I am." Zack said, seeming indignant, then more softly, "Besides… I already went through having a friend leave on me and never even tell me anything about it or ask if I wanted to go, too." Zack said.

'Angeal, my friend… you were quite foolish where Zack is concerned. This whole ordeal- especially you leaving- obviously upset him greatly. Kagome must be very upset with you.' Sephiroth thought, 'But… more importantly… why did I never stop to consider how Zack felt before? The one thing I prided myself on that proved I'm not the cold monster Hojo wants me to be is my consideration for those that I consider my friends and for the well being of those under my command.' "…You're very strong, Zack- and surprisingly selfless. I don't know if I could bring myself to think about my friends and place them in such priority in your situation." he said.

"The people that I care about are what matter most to me. What would it say about me if I placed myself over them in spite of that?" Zack replied.

'He has a point. That's what makes one human-the inability to place yourself before those that truly matter to you.' "You can go pack. Next joint mission, we leave and we're most likely never coming back." Sephiroth said.

Zack left in a flash, saying something about training and talking with 'Cloudy'. Sephiroth chuckled at the no longer surprising amount of energy. That was one person who would never change. He might calm down, perhaps, but never change. That was probably one of the best things about him.

'Such an energetic puppy. Kind and loyal, too. What selfish, foolish creatures we must be to have never stopped to think about him.' the silver haired man mused.

Sephiroth took the moment of silence to think over what the letter had said. Quite frankly, he was far from surprised at what he had just learned. Hojo had never been one to tell the truth, and had always been a greedy, unscrupulous character. So it came as no surprise to learn that his real parents had been Lucretia Crescent and her lover, Vincent Valentine. (How Kagome got a hold of this information, and how she managed to get genetic proof Sephiroth knew better than to ask, or even wonder.)Or that he'd planned on using Sephiroth to achieve his own agenda. The fact that Hojo and President Shinra had planned to get rid of him the moment he seemed to be his own person or his usefulness ended? That was simply the way people like that did things.

Of course, simply running away would never do any good. From the contents of the letter, Jenova was in reality a menace. And Hojo, rather than simply being a soulless that loved to play with a chemistry set, was a mad scientist. Action was needed, and soon. It would not do to leave the fates of many in the hands of a man who viewed everything as either test subjects, eventual test subjects, or nuisances. Sephiroth was eternally grateful that he and his two friends had someone like Kagome around. Otherwise, even he might have played right into the hands of the person who had experimented on and used him since before he was born. It seemed that he would have some _very_ interesting things to talk about with Tseng when they had their ritual bi-weekly lunch.

**Owari**


	4. a warning for my readers

**There is a scheme brewing up with the FF staff and they're planning to take down any and every story over the M rated section (stories with yaoi, yuri, het lemons, song based stories, extreme violence, etc) ...**

**So on June 23rd, there will be an official Black Out. Authors will not log in, read, or review stories. Those who do not have accounts are also affected by FF's decisions too. Please participate and spread the news! If enough authors take part in this event, FF will know we mean business. Also, if anybody has any information on when this purging on M-rated fics will be please contact me. I would like to know in advance.**

**SPREAD THE WORD!**


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